Harrisburg sale will truly be the end of the All American era
by Dave Briggs
This is your final chance to own a piece of an All American horse.
The renowned Maryland-based farm will sell its final standardbred yearlings and disperse its final breeding stock this week at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company auction in Harrisburg, PA.
In 2024, All American announced it was ending its commercial breeding operation in the standardbred business (while remaining in the thoroughbred business).
For the farm’s general manager, Rob Tribbett, the end of an era is bittersweet.
“When you get in the middle of these sales and preparing for them and producing the videos, you’re just so in the moment… you don’t have time to think about that stuff because you focus on getting through it,” Tribbett said. “I’m sure once we’re all done it definitely will be a little bittersweet.”
At the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, All American ranked second among all consignors in average. The farm sold 11 yearlings for a total gross of $1,238,000 to produce an average of $112,545.
“It was a great Lexington sale for us and we really enjoyed seeing all the people that we only get to see a few times a year,” Tribbett said. “We sold a lot of horses at Lexington to a lot of people who have had success with us, which is usually the way it goes. That was good to see.”
All American will sell 21 yearlings in Harrisburg, about 15 mares — the ones that were barren or racing in 2024 — and 10 stallion shares in Harrisburg.
In terms of yearlings, Tribbett highlighted a few All American is selling.
“We have a couple of Captain Coreys which I like,” Tribbett said. “I always liked the horse and then, with what the stallion has done, I’m even more excited about him.”
Tribbett highlighted Hip #80 Princess In Charge, a Captain Corey filly out of Princess Arista.
“That horse’s video may be one of the top two or three videos that I’ve done since I’ve been doing this,” Tribbett said. “It’s super exciting when you’re out there in the field with them and they do it pretty instantly. She was on cruise control, a great reach… did it willingly. It was really exciting to watch that.”
He then moved over to pacers an “obvious one,” Hip #157 Gift Of Faith, the Captaintreacherous-sired half-sister to 2021 Horse of the Year Test Of Faith.
“I would say she is the most similar that we’ve had since Test Of Faith herself,” Tribbett said of Gift Of Faith. “She is very exciting. She’s always been very classy. Obviously, Test Of Faith was a great horse and this is one that… I think can really reach the upper echelon on the track.
“It is the family of the dam of Brandon Blvd. This filly is the half-sister to Test Of Faith and Alexis Faith, who is the dam of Brandon Blvd.”
As for the mixed sale, Tribbett said, “We’re selling the last batch of mares. They were all mares that either were on the racetrack last year or were barren – we didn’t want to sell them as barrens last year so we bred them and are selling them this year all in foal.
“There’s a really nice mare named Bikini Model [Hip #1101], in foal to Chapter Seven.
“There are stallion shares for Captaintreacherous, Walner, and Chapter Seven, some of the best stallions out there.”
Tribbett also pointed out Hip #1103 Our Lady Day.
“She is one that I think is really interesting,” Tribbett said. “She’s not far from being a Hall of Fame mare because of her production. She’s in foal to Confederate, second crop, which is really exciting. She has foaled three standardbred yearlings over $250,000 and not too many pacing mares can claim something like that. She’s really exciting.”
As a bonus, Tribbett said, “almost all of the in-foal mixed mares have either already satisfied Kentucky eligibility or will.
“We noticed last year that buyers really wanted those mares that had the [Kentucky] eligibility and we tried as many as possible, as long as they got in foal early… The vast majority of those mares the eligibility is complete, so that the buyer can purchase them and take them wherever they want to. There’s a few that need to go back for 20 days or whatever and that’s all noted in the statement. That’s something that we definitely considered after last year and wanted to do that. The buyers really liked having it done and not having to worry about shipping back if they were a buyer from another state.”
As for coming to the end of the line in terms of commercial standardbred breeding, Tribbett said he has few regrets.
“Somebody said in one of the trades that they bought a lot of good horses from us and they were sad to see us go, so that means a lot,” Tribbett said. “We’re definitely going to miss our customers. We will be around, but it’s different when you’re not there selling your own horses.”
